


i'm gonna say this out loud

by birdsandivory



Series: Voltron Drabbles [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), Established Relationship, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Soft Kisses, i just wanted to write some put-off lance, klance, klangst, quiet arguing, tensions are high but not too high
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-19 16:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17604575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdsandivory/pseuds/birdsandivory
Summary: Lance stares at Keith like he’s an old photograph, all fond memories and misplaced happiness, but no future beyond the print. Melancholic and feeble, he must seem like an image with edges curled and frayed because there’s no telling where he’s going or where he’ll be. He’s just a moment everyone else has forgotten, even though he’s still there.And Lance probably clings to that like a lifeline.





	i'm gonna say this out loud

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know, man. I was sprinting with my friend and I literally wrote this entire thing out with no problem. I'm really feelin' it, even though it's small. So, I hope you guys enjoy!

Lance is waiting in the Lions’ hangar when he returns.

He leaps from his vessel with a grunt, wiping the sweat from his forehead and into his hair as he draws the hood of his Blade uniform off of his face. It’s been a long time, he thinks; maybe not as long as some of his other missions, but the days have drug on enough to the point that he expects to be missed.

The current red paladin only looks annoyed, however.

It’s new for Keith, looking to that lithe form leaning against the forepaw of their shared mecha, arms crossed before an expression so serious — he can feel the tension filling up his throat before he can dare to speak. The tone of it is subtle, but he can almost _taste_ the bitterness between them in an otherwise empty room and against his better judgment, he breaks the silence.

“Hey,” he drawls, and he doesn’t want to say he’s pleased when that same heavy air dissipates like cosmic dust in the vacuum. Whatever anger Lance holds inside is subsiding as easily as any of his other moods, but the walls stay up and the Blade has to believe that it has something to do with him. It _always_ does. “You got something to say to me?”

Blue eyes catch his own piercing violets off guard when they snap up to look at him, as if he hasn’t slept because he’s been thinking too much. And still, Keith thinks it’ll be the same back and forth banter before he has to rush out of the hangar to give Shiro a quick debriefing of Marmora’s discoveries — but... it _isn’t._

Lance just stares up at him with a sigh, something like aggravation or upset wrinkling his pretty skin.

“You’re never here anymore.” He admits, only this time, it’s different from all of his other complaints — huffed and puffed from his mouth as if he has nothing better to do other than beat him over the head with his words. This time, it sounds like giving up, like he doesn’t have the energy to bust balls anymore, not in this case.

“I’ve been busy,” Keith says simply.

There’s an incredulous look thrown his way, and he watches the other man stand tall one last time before the fire gives out. “There you go again... Why do you act like you’re not one of us? Like you’re one of _them_ instead?”

The former black paladin doesn’t hide the grind of his teeth, the way his canines lick at fleshy lips whenever he feels backed into a corner.

But the feeling fades with a single look.

Lance stares at Keith like he’s an old photograph, all fond memories and misplaced happiness, but no future beyond the print. Melancholic and feeble, he must seem like an image with edges curled and frayed because there’s no telling where he’s going or where he’ll be. He’s just a moment everyone else has forgotten, even though he’s still there.

And Lance probably clings to that like a lifeline.

In that same way, Keith tries not to look at him at all.

Because unlike him, Lance isn’t some captured frame — he _is_ the moment — a keepsake much like a shirt riddled with holes in the collar that he wears every night, wrapping around him like a glove even when the Blade is away. And when he comes back, Lance is there with something completely new; it’s a loose thread or a half-assed stitch job, but he’s there. And he doesn’t fade.

He’s always that reliable keepsake with a purpose and a reason.

And maybe that’s something all of the paladins are. They constantly evolve, change for the better _with_ one another because no one is an outsider within the Castle’s walls…

Keith tries not to feel guilty about being that one aging photo in the background that has no use, about forging his own lonely, linear path.

It doesn’t work, however, it never has — not since the day he met Lance. And it takes him all of three seconds to give into that feeling of fault because ' _he’s not wrong,'_ he sighs, ' _he’s not wrong.'_

The Blade steps forward into Lance’s personal space, bumping their foreheads together painfully, looking the man in the eyes as forcefully as the other does before he falls into the red paladin, capturing soft lips.

So what if he’d never ‘evolve’ — to the point that everyone wants him to? — he doesn't care.

But, maybe, he can learn to change.

When he pulls away, Lance’s kiss seems to follow, the arms that were crossed now wrapped around Keith’s shoulders — his expression lighter, though that sadness would be ever the more difficult to wash away.

“I _am_ one of them,” Keith exhales through his nose, ignoring downcast eyes, “but I’m one of you, too.”

And Lance will serve as his constant reminder.

**Author's Note:**

> I like the thought of Lance changing Keith without him knowing it. Gives me the good feelings. 
> 
> Anyway, come talk to me on [Tumblr](https://birdsandivory.tumblr.com)!


End file.
